It's 1943 and the country is at war. Allied victories are turning the tide of the war and America's industries and the country's railroads, big and small, are doing their part. The Maryland & Pennsylvania RR (Affectionately known as The Ma & Pa) might not have been as busy as the big RRs, still played its part in contributing to the eventual Allied victory.
Come and see this all relived again as I build an HO scale version of The Ma & Pa, 1943.

Thursday, July 20, 2017

Oh Dollar Tree.. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..

OK so maybe the title is a little over the top, but I do love Dollar Tree! Over the years I have found so many useful items there for the layout. From inexpensive artist brushes, to black sand that I use for coal loads and piles.. I always find something there that I use at some point.A recent trip there scored some more items of use.

The latest haul shows spray bottles-$1 each, nail polish holders that paint and glue bottles fit in nicely-$1 each, and bags of course black sand/gravel that can be used in scenery or as larger chunks of coal-$1 each.

In the past I've found these nail polish holders in the clearance section of Home Goods at around $4 but finding them at Dollar Tree for $1 each is even better!

Besides having bags of fine black sand that I use in my coal loads and some scenery, they also carry black course sand which will come in handy at some point.

You can see the paint holders really help organize my work bench with the glues and colors I use most. I'm thinking about building some kind of rack to stack these holders so they take up a smaller footprint on the desk.All in all not bad for an investment of $7.00 total excluding tax. :)